Dr. Anthony Fauci of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md., Urges Americans To Get Flu Vaccine

BETHESDA, Md. (WUSA) -- As Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci knows as much about the science of the flu -- its molecular makeup and patterns of transmission -- as just about anybody in the country. As the father of three young children not that long ago, he also knows a thing or two about just how easy the flu is to get, and give.

For the younger Dr. Fauci, as with many parents, it could very well have started with one of his kids sneezing or coughing on or near him.

"They would get a respiratory infection, they would come, and how do you resist hugging and kissing them? They would get respiratory secretions on your face and hands and then all of a sudden, you wake up one day and you say, I feel a little chilly," Dr. Fauci said.

Once a person is infectious, usually after a 1-4 day incubation period, they can then pass the flu on by, among other things, sneezing or coughing on somebody else, or by typing on a keyboard, or turning a doorknob that somebody else then touches.

As far as stopping the spread of the flu, Dr. Fauci said the best advice is the most simple advice: Get the flu vaccine.

"I mean, that clearly is the bottom line way to prevent the spread of influenza," Dr. Fauci insisted.